Wednesday, May 13, 2020

If the Ninja were pieces of classical music

Jay- An American in Paris, Gershwin This work just screams Jay to me. It's upbeat, crazy, and unpredictable. It's crazy and energetic in the first half, but in the second half, it shows the sweeter and maybe calmer side of Jay. That is, before crescendoing up back into a total freakout again. Its melodies are unforgettable. The taxi horns in the beginning and end add even more to the Jay vibe. This work is definitely not your classical symphony, but it is epic nonetheless, and I can definitely see Jay in this piece.

Lloyd- Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty Ballet The whole ballet is hours long. You don't have to listen to the whole thing. I chose this one for Lloyd because I felt strongly that Lloyd needed a Romantic-era composer like Tchaikovsky. The ballet has a regal, noble feel for it and it says Lloyd to me. This one is a good piece of the ballet to listen to if you only have five minutes to spare. Lloyd is a strong and stable leader with a big heart, and that's what this ballet feels like to me.

Zane- Mozart - Symphony no. 40, in G minor - 1st movement I knew I had to pick something by Mozart for Zane. Mozart just suits him. And if you're a classical musician, you'll know that you have to play Mozart with precision. And that's what Zane is. The movement is centered around a minor key. However, it doesn't sound particularly sad, and I also think that's appropriate for Zane. The melody tends to stay up in the higher end of things, which is just right for Zane. I encourage you to listen to the whole thing. Of course, no piece of music can accurately depict the perfect and precious character that Zane is.

Cole- Gustav Holst - The Planets - Jupiter I went out searching for one that exemplified Kai and I found Cole. The whole movement has a sense of stability. It starts off fast-paced, which isn't really Cole to me, but it makes up for it later. Did I forget to mention the unforgettable melody? It's beautiful. The whole piece is in the lower end of the pitch spectrum which is perfect for the master of earth. Towards the end, it slows down and gives you the sense of stability and responsibility that Cole fosters. It's Cole's perfect piece.

And that's it! Think you know of a piece that better exemplifies one of these ninja? Or know of a work that sounds like one of the ninja I haven't listed here? Comment below!! Good day fangirls and boys, now GOODNIGHT!

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Cole has PTSD

I have a theory that in the eleventh season of Ninjago, Cole develops PTSD. In this post, I will give my reasons for believing this. First, I'll define PTSD.

Definition

Post-traumatic stress disorder
Also called: PTSD
A disorder in which a person has difficulty recovering after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event.

And I would say Cole (and the rest of the Ninja for that matter) have experienced a terrifying event. Seeing Zane disappear at the hand of a firey humanoid snake sorcerous and being blasted himself into another realm to lose the Travelers Tea due to the Land Bounty (and almost him and all his friends) falling off a cliff, that is terrifying. 

Cole has experienced a terrifying event. But does he show the symptoms of PTSD?

Symptoms

General symptoms include:

  • Re-experiencing the trauma through intrusive distressing recollections of the event, flashbacks, and nightmares.
  • Emotional numbness and avoidance of places, people, and activities that are reminders of the trauma.
  • Increased arousal such as difficulty sleeping and concentrating, feeling jumpy, and being easily irritated and angered.
Also, a symptom of PTSD in children is reenacting the terrifying event through play.

Cole has shown these symptoms:

  • Re-experiencing the trauma through intrusive distressing recollections of the event, flashbacks, and nightmares.Cole had a nightmare of losing the Travelers Tea in the toppling Land Bounty
  • Emotional numbness and avoidance of places, people, and activities that are reminders of the trauma. - Did not show this symptom
  • Increased arousal such as difficulty sleeping and concentrating, feeling jumpy, and being easily irritated and angered. - Cole blew up at the other Ninja after having his dream.
Also, a symptom of PTSD in children is reenacting the terrifying event through play. - Cole put on a puppet show (of sorts) reenacting the story of Zane being blasted into the Never Realm.

Therefore, I can conclude that Cole has PTSD. The only thing that doesn't match up is that PTDS symptoms usually appear months after the event, while Cole's symptoms appeared shortly after the trauma happened.

Thanks for coming along with me!! Good day, fangirls and boys. GOODNIGHT

Information about PTSD came from The Anxiety and Depression Association of America, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and Google. 

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Many season 11 fanfictions #3


So this one is titled 'Vex.' I kind of like it. I made this one because it touches on the point that Vex may not be all bad. I like villains. 😈

Vex closed the door, then let his fake smile drop back into a scowl.

‘Wretched emperor.’ he thought, as he often did. ‘This is worthless. Why don’t I become the emperor! Everyone knows I’m the one calling the shots!’ 

‘Because you can’t summon ice dragons at will.’ He reminded himself. 

A very exasperated Vex sighed. Ten minutes ago he had actually been in bed. Now he could never get back to sleep. Just this one evening he had convinced himself to retire. Then as he was drifting off, he heard the usual noises in the bedroom next to him of the emperor awaking suddenly from one of his ‘dreams’.

Vex knew he had to go and make sure the ‘emperor’ didn’t realize what these dreams actually were. He got up and saw to it that the emperor thought it nothing, then he left the room. Now here he was, about to have another sleepless night of fitful worrying and planning. Vex turned and paced the corridor.

Ever since that worthless stranger in green had appeared, the ‘emperor’ had started having those worthless dreams. From what Vex had gathered, these dreams were glimpses of his life that he had forgotten. 

These dreams were dangerous.

Always after these visions the emperor acted strangely and spoke harshly to Vex, though he did not know why. When Vex mentioned the green stranger or mentioned the word green at all, a strange look crossed the emperor’s face. Vex hoped it wasn’t recognition. All this made Vex very worried.

What if he put the pieces together? What if he figured out who he was? Vex’s reign would be over!

Now he began to wonder, as he usually did, whether he was doing the right thing. Reflecting back on the day when he first encountered this Zane fellow, he really seemed like a nice man. That was before Vex caused him to lose his memory.

Now Vex felt a twinge of guilt. 

‘If I told him the truth, he would probably kill me.’ Vex thought bitterly. He sighed, thinking. Then he decided: ‘I’ve gone too far. I can’t undo it.’

Then Vex turned and plotted how to get rid of that awful traveler in green. 

And so, at the end, like I always do, I'll give it a one to five star rating. (Even though it's my
own work.) I'll give it four stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Nya vs. Pixal

A lot of times I like to compare the only two recurring girls on the show: PIXAL and Nya. So I guess I'll just let you look inside my brain a little and see the points I usually touch when comparing these two women.

First of All: Why even have girls?
This is obviously a show aimed majorly at boys. So why have girls? Well, I think there are two different reasons.
      1# To be politically correct
           This generation is really focused on girl power. If the show was all about boys, some people wouldn't consider it politically correct. So they had to add a girl character (Nya) to inject some strong women power into it.
      2# To give the male characters more depth
           What would Jay be without Nya? What would Zane be without Pixal? And these male characters are broken-hearted when their significant other is missing. If you haven't noticed, Zane really really really cares about Pixal. And this gives him more depth as a character. Kai really really really loves Nya, and it gives Kai the big brother vibe that he wouldn't be the same without.

Now to compare the two:

Their attitudes
Both Nya and Pixal have a little bit of sass. I find Pixal's sass a little more appealing than Nya's. Nya just seems rude sometimes. And Pixal does have that innocent vibe to her that Nya doesn't have.

Their Smarts
Both Pixal and Nya are both smart. They always seem to be the one behind the computer, building mech, saving the ninja... To digress a little bit, I feel like Pixal has taken Nya's place. Pixal is now Samurai X, Pixal is now the one left behind when everyone goes on missions, shes the one building the mechs, she's the one saving the ninja now. She's filling Nya's place since Nya left to become the water ninja. And even though I love Pixal, I think I liked Nya in that role better. Nevertheless, they are both highly intelligent.

Their Development as a Character
Let me say one thing right off the bat. Both Nya and Pixal are underdeveloped. Lego, if you're going to add girls into the mix, at least give them some depth! I notice the underdevelopment the most in Nya because she's kinda moved into the main character role. Nya just, isn't interesting. I can only think of one thing that gave some kind of interest and background to her character and that is the whole thing with their parents that happened in season 7. But since she shares that with her brother and her parents came back, I feel like that's not significant. I could name 5+ things about the other ninja that give them depth but only about 2 for Nya. Pixal doesn't have much depth either, but for some reason, that doesn't bother me as much.

Well, thanks for coming along for the ride! Good evening, fellow fangirls and boys, GOODNIGHT!